take me out and take me home (you're my lover)
by cursedhazel
Summary: "you're my best friend, and i didn't realize i wanted to be more than that until you brought me to the hospital after i broke my finger rollerskating." or, in which Annabeth and Percy go rollerskating, things go wrong, and people end up falling in more ways than one. au. one-shot.


"Are you sure you don't need my help?"

The cacophony of rolling skates and pink strobe lights make Annabeth's head pound as she and Percy step onto the hardwood floor. Squiggly neon shapes cover the carpeted walls. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston plays over the intercom, and all Annabeth needs is a bad perm to feel like the 80s made a comeback.

"I don't need you. I'll do it myself," Annabeth says, knuckles turning white as she grasps the railing. "I can do this."

Percy rolls his eyes, gliding to her side. "Annabeth, you're gonna hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine. I'm a big girl."

"With enough pride to fill this entire room."

Annabeth turns to glare at Percy. It was his turn to choose what they would do that night, and Annabeth was beginning to regret dragging herself here. She never saw the appeal of roller skating; it was dangerous and a completely inefficient way to travel. Skateboarding, at least, offered some bail if you were going too fast, but you were stuck with those skates until you could rip them off. While he wouldn't admit it, Percy only really chose this place because he took advantage of the Saturday night "couple's" discount.

Percy was lucky he was her best friend.

"I came here for you," she says, jabbing a finger into his chest, "despite not knowing the first thing about roller skating. My pride isn't that bad." She re-steadies herself as an elderly couple whizzes past her, hands intertwined and skating like they've actually been here since the 80s. She pretends her pride isn't a little wounded.

Percy smirks, arms folded over his chest in checkered button-up Annabeth bought him for his 18th birthday. "Alright. Then I want to see you take two steps forward."

"Easy," she says, "I could do that in my sleep."

She takes her hand from the railing, and now she's standing like a newborn fawn on her own. She throws Percy a glance, and he shoos her forward with one hand. She was lucky the violent pink overhead lights obscured the blush on her face.

She takes one step forward.

"See?" she says to Percy, a smile adorning her glossy mouth. "I'm a pro."

"You still have another step to go, Wise Girl."

Annabeth groans, smoothing down her plaid skirt (that was a bad choice in hindsight because she'd flash the entire arena in one tumble.)

When they started the tradition of going out every other Saturday night their junior year, the idea thrilled Annabeth. She and Percy hardly saw each other with everything going on, and she missed her best friend like crazy. Most of the time, she had fun, but she chose most of the time. She finally gives him the liberty...

And he chooses to roller skate.

(It was days like today when she questioned if he actually loved her.)

She moves one heavy foot and immediately stumbles forward.

In one swift motion, Percy pulls her into his chest before she plummets to the floor. "Easy, girl," he chuckles. The sound echoes in her head, along with the sound of her slamming heart against her ribcage.

"Thanks," she breathes, leaning back onto his shoulder. "I think you just saved my life."

"That's a little dramatic," he laughs again, voice muffled in her hair and breath sending a shiver down her spine. "Off your high horse now though, huh."

Annabeth tilts her chin to smile at him, and it's only then does she realize how close they were. And how Percy's arms were still holding her close to him

Had he always smelled so good?

Percy's smile fades from his face, and his eyes flicker down to Annabeth's mouth. She thinks her eyes flutter closed for a second, but suddenly she's wriggling out of his grasp, finding and clutching the railing.

"I think I need a lesson," she says, clearing her throat, staring at her scuffed up skates. "Teach me?"

Percy stays cementing to his space on the floor, but he nods his head. He shoves his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Gods know you need it."

* * *

Neither acknowledges what happened, and it's a little weird from then on.

Like now, Annabeth regrets buying him that shirt, because Percy looks...

"Are you listening, or are you bored?" Percy says, coming to a halt using the front of his left skate. His forearms flex as he folds them across his chest again, and Annabeth instinctively reaches for the rail.

"I'm listening," she says in feign offense. "I don't wanna almost die again."

Percy narrows his eyes. "Right. Plus, I won't always be there to save you."

"I promise you that you will be the only reason that I ever go roller skating again."

And she wouldn't mind him saving her again. She means, his arms wrapped around her wasn't the worst feeling in the world.

And that troubled her.

Because Percy was a friend, only a friend, and he would remain a friend until the end of time. They were the epitome of the notion that guys and girls could be friends without it getting weird.

Scratch that.

It wasn't getting weird. She didn't feel weird. Nothing about thinking her best friend was attractive - not even the allure of running her fingers along his jawline, or being the cause of the lines in his smile, or the way his throaty, tired laugh made her stomach twist - was weird at all. She thinks Piper's hot, and she doesn't wanna bang Piper.

Percy was nothing else. She can admire someone's beauty, goddammit.

She couldn't help that she was realizing Percy Jackson's abundance of it.

"That's sweet, Beth," Percy coos, turning and taking a seat in the entrance of the rink. "Now show me you are actually worth something and put on a little show."

Annabeth scoffs and turns away before she could see just how scarlet her face got at his words. "Fine." She takes a few successful albeit shaky steps towards the middle of their little corner of the rink. She takes another tentative step and pushes forward, throwing out her hands to keep her balance. She looks back at Percy, and he beams. Pride swells in her chest.

"There you go!" he cheers, standing and skating to where she stood - a foot away at best, but it was progress. "That's my girl!"

Another, deeper blush passes over her face as he holds out his hand for a high five, which Annabeth accepts. "I barely did anything, Perce. I still suck."

"But you're trying, and that's what counts. I'm proud. Now let's see if you can make it a little farther."

Percy skates a few feet away from her with ease. Annabeth didn't realize Percy actually had a talent for roller skating, seeing as earlier that day he couldn't walk up the stairs without stumbling, but he's proven her wrong.

Needless to say, he'd impressed her.

He beckons her forward, eyes sparkling in the fluorescent light. He's far enough away to be in the circle of other skating couples. Annabeth looked him up and down. He stands a good few inches taller than the crowd, especially in his skates. A tattoo peeks from under the cuff of his jeans.

"C'mon, Beth," he shouts a bit over the croons of Prince's "Kiss". "A few more feet."

Annabeth reaches up to readjust her ponytail out of a nervous habit. A few more feet. All the more to fall and split her head open with.

One step and she trips when an older man knocks into her with a sneer. Luckily, she catches herself quick enough to glare at the back of his balding head. "Asshole," she mutters under her breath. She propels herself forward, too quickly and too shakily, but she's just close enough for Percy to catch her by her hips. Her heart slammed against her ribcage, and her hair flies up as more people fly by her.

"You did great," he says, looking into her eyes. She feels that flutter in her chest again, but his hold on her doesn't linger. Annabeth kicks herself for feeling a little disappointed.

Friends. They weren't together, and she didn't want to be with him.

"Thanks," she says, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I try."

"That you do," he says, and he offers her an elbow. "How about we take it slow for the rest of the night."

She loops her arm through his, exhaling through her nose. "I'd like that a lot."

Annabeth didn't want to face the reality that this would be one of their last days for a while.

Life was getting so busy with her being shipped off to California for college while Percy was staying back in New York to pursue his swim career at NYU. The two had made their days the one anchor they had to the world of … them. The pizzas and falling asleep on each other's shoulders and watching awful rom coms were all things that made everything slow down for a while.

But she'd miss him most of all.

He was her best friend, annoying and obnoxious as he was. He had been since the 7th grade - there was no Annabeth without Percy and vice versa. They were a team, always.

Her very best friend.

But their days, their nights were beginning to feel more special for other reasons Annabeth wasn't sure she enjoyed.

* * *

It's an hour and several laps later when Annabeth decides to get bold.

"I think I can do this by myself now," Annabeth says, taking her hand from his. It took them 3 minutes from them to switch from linked arms to holding hands again, and Annabeth hadn't even realized that it happened until she looked down to see their fingers laced together.

She hadn't minded and didn't say anything.

Skating with him had been fun, and his large hand was warm, but the longer they went the more Annabeth imagined what it would be if they weren't faking it for the discount.

"Do you?" Percy asks, skidding to a stop. He tucks his hand in his pocket. "Alright."

She skates a few steps away as proof, and he presses his lips together, nodding with approval.

"I see. I'll be right in here just in case."

So Annabeth skates by herself, by Percy's side, oxymoronically, and while she was terrible, but she was getting better. Percy wasn't her keeper. She was an adult and completely capable of skating on her-

"Annabeth!" Percy shouts as her feet slip out from under her. She topples to the ground in a pile of denim and plaid.

You know, like an idiot.

Percy crouches down and pulls her to the side, away from the skaters. "Oh God," he whispers, a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

As much as her immediate answer wants to go to yes, she can't force the word out of her mouth. She knows that something isn't right. She's in as much pain as you'd expect if you slipped and crashed headfirst into the hardwood floor, but it felt like more than that.

"I... don't know."

Annabeth tries to sit up but lets out a yelp of pain when she shifts awkwardly on her right hand. She and Percy glance down at the same time.

"Shit."

Annabeth isn't sure who said it, but it didn't even matter - her finger was purple and swelling up by the second.

She bursts into tears.

"We need to get you to the emergency room," he says, untying Annabeth's skates and tugging them off her feet. "Now."

Annabeth goes to tell Percy that it's okay, but her finger is throbbing, her throat is closing, and tears stream over her eyelids.

Mostly, though, she felt stupid.

How do you - presumably - break your finger roller skating? Did she stick her finger out on the way down? Was she so stupid as to fall in the most inconvenient way possible?

Was it her pure idiocy? Stubbornness? Selfish independence?

(Her desperate want to not think about their friendship being ruined by an accidentally intimate moment?)

She had without a doubt ruined their night.

And yet, as Percy yanks off one of her size 9 roller skates after the other, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and not anger. Annabeth finds him awfully adorable, focusing so hard on untying Annabeth's double knots. He glances up at Annabeth every few seconds to make sure she's okay, and he smiles when he catches her eye once, the dimple in his cheek making its debut. Annabeth's sobs reduced to a few half-hearted sniffles. How could she cry when Percy was the cutest thing to ever exist?

That is until he literally decided to sweep her off her feet.

Annabeth, of course, is mortified.

"Put me down! I can walk," she says, face flushing fire truck red. She could feel the eyes of the whole arena on the two as the DJ stops the music. The rink attendant with dark purple hair and an intense case of RBF looks at Annabeth like she was a piece of food between her teeth.

"Are you okay?" the attendant says, clicking her tongue. Annabeth rolls her eyes, and she hears Percy chuckle (and she tries to ignore his hand grazing her ass) above her head.

"I'm fine," Annabeth responds, wiggling in Percy's arms. He puts her down onto the ground. She cradles her finger with her left hand. "Just a minor incident. No big deal."

Percy stands by her side, towering with a full seven inches over her in his skates. Annabeth was planted on the ground in her Hello Kitty socks. "We think she broke her finger," he says, and Annabeth grits her teeth hard when she feels another wave of pain flow through her.

The attendant - her badge is smudged, so Annabeth had no clue what her name was passed 'Fe' - peers at Annabeth's swollen phalange and sighs. "Yeah. Looks pretty bad. You should probably head to the emergency room."

"Yeah, no shi-" Annabeth goes to say, but Percy cuts her off with a, "We were just on our way out." Annabeth shifts her weight to her other foot, and Percy guides her out of the way with an arm slung over her shoulder.

* * *

The walk back to the car is interesting, to say the least.

"Percy, my finger is broken, my legs are not."

"Beth, I just wanna help."

"Carrying me is not gonna help me in any way, shape, or form."

Percy knows she's right, and that she wasn't some damsel in distress, but he can't help but feel awful. He was the one who suggested roller skating, even though as much as Annabeth refused to admit it, she sucked at it.

He was trying to compensate for something, alright? Otherwise, he'd feel like a shitty friend.

"I know that," he says, pushing a sweaty hand through his hair, "but I feel guilty. And I know how much you love piggyback rides."

Annabeth glowers at him with a fierceness that could only be described as one that only his best friend could pull off. "I've never expressed my love for piggyback rides once in my life."

"I beg to differ," Percy says, leaning against the wall of the brick rink. "Once, in 8th grade, you had sprained your ankle during track practice, and you loved the piggyback ride I gave you to the nurse's office."

Percy can see Annabeth hesitate when she goes to plant both hands on her hips, glancing down to her purpling finger. Percy winced a bit. "Percy," she says, settling for having one hand on the waistband of her skirt while the other lay dangled at her side, "first of all, that was 4 years ago. Second of all, I actually couldn't walk. My finger is fucked up now. Let me walk to the car."

She turns sharply on her now Conversed heels and walks into the open parking lot, and she pulls her denim jacket tighter around her. Percy sighs, gazing at her saggy ponytail until she stops and turns to him again.

She bites her bottom lip. Percy's stomach does that twisty thing it always did when she did that. It was his one - well, there were many, but this was a prominent one - weakness when it came to Annabeth. Her biting her bottom lip always did him in, and he didn't know why. "If you stop giving me those puppy dog eyes," she says, rolling her eyes, "I'll let you do it till the car."

It's a lot more awkward than they anticipated.

For one, Annabeth can't fully hold on because if she does, she'll just hurt her finger more. Secondly, Percy could hardly focus with her breath gliding over his ears and her long hair tickling the back of his neck.

She smelled like strawberries.

It's a short trek to the car, an agonizing minute and a half of Percy trying and failing not to be weird and Annabeth sighing about being carried, but they make it. Annabeth all but hops off of his back, leaning onto the passenger door of his step dad's old blue Prius.

"There's a Children's 10 minutes from here," Annabeth says, pursing her lips. "I'll call… I'll call my dad, and he could probably meet us there in an hour. You know, if he could pry himself away from his model airplanes."

The light from the full moon reflects against Annabeth's bright blonde hair, surrounding her head like a halo; it turns one of her eyes a silvery color and bounces off her smooth tanned skin and the fading lip gloss on Annabeth's mouth.

Percy almost didn't register what she even said.

"Uh, yeah. Do that."

The car ride falls almost silent if it weren't for Annabeth's several disgruntled sighs and shifts in her seat. She grasps her bruising finger, pouting.

"I'm sorry for ruining your night," she says, staring into her lap. "I know you were having fun, and me being a bitch on top of falling and probably breaking my finger messed everything up."

And like, maybe she was right; this detour did kind of put a damper on things, but in a way, something worked out: Annabeth would be off her skates and considerably safer.

"It's alright." Percy eases onto his brake for the stoplight. "I'm still getting to spend time with you, which is the whole point of doing this. I'm just sorry you're hurt."

Annabeth shrugs, and her jean jacket crumples around her shoulders. He'd bought get that jacket for Christmas a few years back, and even though it was too big on her, he couldn't help but notice how good she looked wearing it. "You couldn't help that. Thanks for being here anyway."

She glances up at him with a small smile and presses her fist to his arm in a weak punch. He smiles back at her before turning back to the road ahead.

Gosh, he was in over his head.

* * *

Percy waits with her in the emergency room even after her dad shows up.

It's well after 10 at this point - Annabeth supposes she wasn't a high priority to the hospital right now, which she understood but did not appreciate - and as Annabeth curls up in one of the stiff chairs, Percy sits stoically next to her, eyes sweeping across the room. There was a lot to take in - the dozens of people that sit around with varying degrees of emergency, one such being an elderly man with a bloody nose secretly smoking a cigarette into his shirt collar - or the painting of palm trees clearly done by a few toddlers or some untalented adults. The receptionist taps with acrylic nails at her laptop. Occasionally, a phone rings, or there's a squeal from some room down some hall. There's a line at the only vending machine in the room.

But other than the occasional glance around, Percy doesn't say a word. He's stiff, his back rigid, both feet planted on the ground like he was prepared to stand at any second.

Annabeth knows why - Percy didn't like hospitals, not since his mom came down with an almost fatal case of pneumonia a few years back. Luckily, she was okay, but those months were the scariest of Percy's life - he'd be in the hospital every day after school, and he'd often leave from school from there. He almost failed his eighth-grade year because of it.

She wasn't sure if he'd stepped in a hospital since.

The fact that he would for her made her all the more grateful.

She wouldn't dare push him, but as her dad goes up to the counter to sign some papers, she puts a hand on Percy's knee and gives a reassuring pat. A thank you.

She hears him let out a breath next to her, and a few seconds later, his hand covers hers.

Her heart skips a beat.

She looks up at him only to find that he was already looking at her, but both glance away quickly, and she couldn't vouch for him, but her face was definitely even redder than it was from crying.

"Annabeth Chase?" says a brunette woman in purple scrubs. "Are you ready?"

Annabeth immediately jumps up and away as her dad turns around with paperwork in hand, and he looks at her quizzically when her face burns bright.

"Yes," she squeaks, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I am."

She hears Percy move behind her, but the nurse holds out a hand to stop him. "Sorry, honey," she says. "Family only beyond this point. And no, boyfriends don't count as family. By law, regarding minors, at least."

Annabeth immediately stammers out a very automatic, "He's not my boyfriend, we're just friends," response, but Percy nods, understanding.

"Yes, ma'am." He stands, tucking his hands in his pockets. "I guess I should get going." He looks towards Annabeth, his cheeks still a little pink. "I'll call you later, okay? Tell me how it goes."

Annabeth nods and stops himself from reaching out and hugging her when he looks back at Annabeth's dad. "Alright. Night, Percy."

"Night, Beth. Goodnight, Mr. Chase."

And with that, he leaves through the front doors of the hospital.

Annabeth stares through the door until he disappears.

* * *

As Annabeth suspected, her finger was broken.

Well, it was technically only fractured, but saying "I fractured my finger" sounded a lot less cool, so when she showed up to school that Monday, she told everyone it was broken.

"How'd you do that?" asked Piper, uncapping the silver Sharpie Annabeth gave her to sign her black cast. "You're like, the most careful person I know."

Annabeth shrugs and holds her arm still enough for Piper to vandalize her cast with her sloppy handwriting. Percy had signed it that morning when he came by to pick her up for school, and he'd scribbled over a dozen little silver hearts all over it before Annabeth told him to stop. She subconsciously traces one of the hearts with her finger.

"I went rollerskating with Percy on Saturday, and I fell because apparently, I suck at roller skating."

Piper raises an eyebrow and hands Annabeth the marker. "Roller skating? Like at the local roller rink that holds a couple's event every Saturday?"

Annabeth glares at Piper as she slings her backpack on her left side - the cast took up half her right forearm. "No. Well, I mean, yeah, but it wasn't like that."

"It's never like that."

"Yeah, 'cause we're just friends."

Piper purses her lips, tucking her thumbs under her backpack straps. "For sure. And who left all the hearts on your cast?"

"... nobody."

"Right."

Annabeth sighs and turns into the main hall, where close to a hundred kids linger before 5th period starts. "I'm serious. It's not... we're just friends. I'm not dating Percy. "

"What about Percy?" a voice behind them asks, and Annabeth spins around to find Percy approaching the two girls. "Speak of the devil, right?"

He throws an arm around both of their shoulders with a big grin, ruffling Piper's hair as she scrunches her nose. Annabeth tries not to react to his proximity, but the scent of his cologne kind of makes her swoon.

"We weren't talking about anything." Annabeth swallows and looks at her feet. "I was just… reassuring Piper that we - me and you - are not dating."

She can't see his face, but his arms fall from around both of their shoulders, which both relieves and disappoints her. "Oh. Yeah. Why would she think otherwise?"

Her heart pangs with an echo in her chest, and she suppresses a visible wince. Maybe it was the nonchalant-ness of his tone that made it hurt so bad, but she was the one who said it first. Why was hearing him say it so much worse?

But she glances up at her two friends with the brightest smile she can muster. "See? Exactly," and she gives a light shove to Piper, whose expression is a mix of miffed and very unconvinced. "It was just a coincidence it just so happened to be discount couple's night, and all they played were love songs. Me and Percy a couple? More like a couple of besties, am I right?"

And then she does this fake snort giggle that almost turns into a sob if she hadn't held it in. A heavy sigh leaves Piper as Annabeth ignores the holes Percy are staring into the side of her head. She cups her cheek with her own hand.

There's a moment of silence before Percy speaks up. "Right." He shifts his weight, cocking his head to one side. "Annabeth, are you-"

"I'm fine!" she exclaims quickly, throwing her free hand in the air and drawing the attention of a few passersby. "Completely fine. Perfect, even."

The late bell ringing saves her from any further embarrassment, and before either friend could say anything, she spins on her heels and stomps off to class, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. Why was she crying? Was she really that pathetic to cry over something as stupid as this? A week ago, even a few days ago, she wouldn't even blink if someone accused her and Percy of dating. She was just used to it - they were friends, and she never thought she'd want anything more than that.

But then Saturday happened, and now she doesn't know what she wants.

And not knowing what she wants was the most frustrating thing in the world to her, because she's always known what she wanted. She wanted to be an architect, she wanted to go to Columbia and someday, she wanted to own a ranch house in some rural part of the state with a dog, and maybe a husband if time and circumstance allowed her to fall for someone in the future.

Part of the plan was always to have Percy in her life in some way, but she'd never imagined that she might have wanted him to be the person she'd own a dog with.

And that thought was scary.

* * *

She thought she'd had it under control, but being around him became an increasingly harder task. Suddenly, she was aware of everything - how she looked, how she spoke, how she breathed, even. She felt like a little girl with her first schoolyard crush or something.

And because of this, she felt she was trying too hard to not be obvious about it.

Which doesn't help when they'd scheduled a study date, and he was so darn cute when he was concentrated she couldn't help but feel a little queasy.

She looks down at her books, taking careful albeit shaky notes with her non-dominant hand, but at this point, her notes began to take the shapes of scribble stars and hearts and messy bunches of failed cursive. She blows out a big breath before flopping back on her bed.

"I can't do this," she exclaims dramatically, letting her whirring ceiling fan kick up the baby hairs escaping her ponytail. "Writing is too hard. Why did I have to break my right finger?"

Without missing a beat, Percy says, "Because you fell on your right hand," which earns a pillow being thrown at his head.

It's been a few hours since he'd come over, and neither dared speak of yesterday's dispute. She was glad for it - maybe they both just assumed she was high on ibuprofen, which wasn't far from the truth, but she'd rather die than explain her outburst.

"You're such a smartass." She sits up onto her elbows and watches as Percy types rapidly on his keyboard. "What are you working on?"

Percy glances up for a split second, the screen of his computer reflecting into his eyes. "Nothing." He shifts his screen so he's angled away from her. "Something for English."

"An essay?"

"Of sorts."

Annabeth raises a blonde eyebrow at him. "Of sorts? What is it about?"

"Nothing."

"Are you writing about me?"

"No."

Annabeth sits up fully, and Percy slides back a little in her rolly chair. A small grin spreads across her face. "That was a very unconvincing no."

Percy closes his computer slightly and meets her eyes from across the room. "No, Annabeth, I'm not writing about you. Convinced?"

Annabeth, blushing, lays back down on her bed before he could notice. "Fine. But why are you being so secretive?"

"Because then you'll ask to read it then you'll judge me."

Annabeth rolls her eyes and, with way too much effort, throws herself off the bed and onto the carpeted floor. "Well, now I have to read it."

He opens his mouth to protest, but seeing as Annabeth was already halfway across the room, he shuts it and rolls back to her desk.

"Fine. We have to write about a time when we've felt vulnerable. I'm writing about the time Mom got sick."

Annabeth rests her hands on the back of his chair, peering at the screen over his shoulder. The essay is titled "Vulnerability and Confronting the Real World," which Annabeth prides Percy for coming up with. The first paragraph briefly describes what vulnerability means to Percy:

_To be vulnerable is to openly express how something scary, for lack of a better word, makes you feel. It's confronting what you've always pushed to the back of your mind and finally bringing it into the light. Being vulnerable doesn't necessarily mean you're showing weakness; it means being able to overcome weakness by facing it directly, and that's strength._

"Wow," Annabeth says, her eyes scanning the words for a second and third time. "That's good, Percy."

Percy exhales and shrugs his shoulders. "Thanks. Means a lot coming from you."

Annabeth's acutely aware of how close her face was to his, but she swallows and tries to look unphased, reaching over to his mousepad and scrolling down. She could hardly read the rest with his breath tickling her ear.

"That almost sounded sarcastic."

"Maybe it was."

On instinct, Annabeth turns her head to glare at him. Her narrowed eyes immediately meet wide, surprised green ones, ones with swirls of blue and big, dilated pupils, and their noses brush as she quickly pulls away, clearing her throat. "Sorry." She tucks a blonde curl that fell from her ponytail behind her ear. "I didn't realize you were… right there."

Percy shrugs, but the expression he wears is foggy. "It's alright. I was kind of just breathing on you."

Annabeth lets out a short laugh, but it doesn't cut the thick tension in the room. It's ten degrees warmer, or maybe that was just her - she didn't know.

All she _did_ know was that she really wanted to kiss him just then.

And that wasn't the only time she had wanted to.

An hour later, she's sitting on her kitchen counter, her legs swinging against the dishwasher after finishing the last of her hot chocolate. Percy sits backward on one of the chairs at the table, shoveling spoonfuls of peanut butter into his mouth happily. The spoon leaves his mouth spotless.

Annabeth finds a soft smile lifting the corners of her mouth as he eats the jar like it was the best thing on planet Earth; he was like a puppy discovering human food for the first time, and it was the most adorable thing ever. Seriously, the only person she knew that liked peanut butter _more_ was his little his brother Tyson, and even then, it was only barely.

She was just glad he hadn't ventured to Peanut Butter Pizza; his affinity for Pineapple Pizza was bad enough.

"You know what would make this even better?" Percy asks suddenly, breaking Annabeth's very mushy train of thought. His voice is muffled by the amount of peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth. "Oreos. Oreos would make this better." He swings his leg over the chair and crosses the kitchen to her in three brief steps. "You have Oreos, don't you?"

With the hand encased in her clunky cast, she gestures to the cabinet above her head. "Yeah. We keep them in constant supply for when my dad's girlfriend visits, but I honestly don't think she'll notice if a few are missing."

Percy's eyes light up excitedly, and he looked like a little baby seal, and Annabeth doesn't know why she keeps comparing him to little baby animals, but maybe the Animal Planet documentary she watched last night was still fresh on her mind.

"Cool. We're gonna Lindsey Lohan this shit." He reaches above her head and carefully swings open the cabinet to retrieve the package. He waves it under his nose and smells the aroma it leaves. "Gosh, I love your house." He rips it open. "Want one?"

Annabeth nods her head, and he produces a cookie, which she takes gratefully. He shoves one in his mouth, chewing it with his eyes scrunched in the corners.

"Oreos," he says, gesturing with one in his hand, "are the second-best cookies in the world. On God."

"Please never say that again."

"Yeah, sorry, I was experimenting, and I hated it."

Amid Annabeth laughing at his stupidity, Percy's eyes fall to the casted arm laying in her lap, and a look quickly passes over his face. "Oreos won't heal that, will they?"

Annabeth shrugs. "No. But give me six more weeks, and we'll see."

Percy's face falls into a frown; Annabeth doesn't know why he's still standing in front of her, and seeing him suddenly so serious makes her stomach turn. She puts her left hand on his arm and gives him a smile. "Hey. It's okay, what happened was not your fault. I'm the clumsy one."

It's only then does Annabeth realize how quiet her apartment was; she could've sworn the TV had been on at one point. The only sound she recognized was their breaths and the sound of her pulse quickening in her ears.

"I know," he says. "I just… I hate seeing you broken if I could've somehow prevented it."

"There is no way you could've prevented my dumbass from falling over - if it didn't happen there, it would've happened in the parking lot, or at school. Me breaking my finger was probably inevitable."

There's still hesitance drawn all over his face. Annabeth rolls her eyes.

"Percy, I promise you that I'll be okay. Like I said - I'm a big girl. I can take a little pain for a few weeks. Just promise you'll be there when I started getting grouchy about how useless I am now."

And she really means that not only for now, but for the rest of her life - she loved Percy, in several ways, and she meant it when she said that she wanted him to always be apart of her life - no matter the role he played in it.

"Of course," he says, a dimple appearing in his right cheek. "I would never, ever leave you, Beth. Even when that will ultimately get super annoying."

She reaches her arms up and gestures for a hug, and Percy accepts with more force than she was expecting, wrapping his arms just under her ribcage and squeezing tightly. The hug wasn't dissimilar to one they might've shared if they hadn't seen each other in years, but that was how they showed their affection - overtly.

Plus, his hugs were warm, so Annabeth couldn't complain.

He smelled like home.

It's nearly a full minute later when they finally pull back from each other, and it's not the first nor the second time she finds her face only inches from his. Her cast still drapes awkwardly around the nape of his neck, his hands settle on her hips. His lips part as his eyes flicker down to her own.

And instead of pushing him away and laughing it off like she even a week ago would have done, she does the very thing she stopped herself from doing when she started feeling a way about her best friend.

She leans in and kisses him, on his mouth, eyes fluttering closed, and she feels a kaleidoscope of butterflies erupt in the pit of her stomach.

The kiss was simple and sweet, and to her surprise, he pulls her even closer to him as he kisses her back. She draws back a little, and his eyes open in surprise.

"I… I don't think I meant to do that," Annabeth says, making no effort to move away from him - maybe it was the peanut butter on his breath intoxicating her. "I'm sorry."

Percy, whose expression is a lot dopier than hers, shakes his head. "No need to apologize. I liked it."

Annabeth smiles before she leans back into him. Her mouth is centimeters from his. "Well if you liked it, then I liked it too."

Percy leaned his forehead against hers. "And if you liked it, I'd gladly try it again."

They meet in the middle, and warmth spreads down to Annabeth's toes, and for a few minutes, she forgets about her broken finger.

Maybe some things were worth falling for.

* * *

**hey! i'n not dead! new little story i decided to post. i've been sitting on it for while, but i finally decided to sit down and edit it. hope you like it! and yes, the title is a taylor swift lyric. sue me.**

**so a little life update: i'm 17 now! my birthday passed about a month and a half ago; right now, it's the end of my thanksgiving break, and i have two and a half weeks until the end of the semester... let's see if i'll survive. maybe i'll have another story by christmas. i don't know. we'll see.**

**until next time! ~ Aja :)**


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